


Hidden Charms

by Sylvia



Category: Tokyo Babylon, X -エックス- | X/1999, 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
Genre: Crossover, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 09:58:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17681288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylvia/pseuds/Sylvia
Summary: A week after the portal opened, the SID had a one-eyed guy in an expensive tailored suit lounging on the cot in lock-up, wearing the most smugly condescending smirk known to man. The detention area was filled with the incongruous scent of cherry blossoms, and Black-Cloaked Shen Wei would not move from his stony vigil in front of the cell. It was all exceedingly odd in exactly the way Yunlan had come to expect.OR:Combatants from another world unexpectedly enter Dragon City, the Black-Cloaked Envoy acquires an interesting reputation, and nobody has a terribly good time.





	Hidden Charms

**Author's Note:**

> Every fandom needs weird crossovers. Allow me to make a start. 
> 
> Betaed by Solo, who is a great enabler. Thank you again!

On Wednesday, a portal to another universe opened south of the river, over the old town hall. It swirled shut again almost immediately, but in the brief moment of its existence, a kid wearing a baseball cap, a monk, a schoolgirl and a guy in a trench coat managed to fall through. They then put half of Dragon City under a force field, jumped around on top of various buildings, and threw bolts of electricity, swords, doves, hawks and various other missiles at each other. Dozens of people had recorded it on their phones, or Yunlan would probably have considered at least the birds down to creative license.

Yunlan couldn't believe he'd missed it. Portals to other universes should be required to open up in more convenient locations – and not on days when Yunlan was reporting to the ministry, because budget meetings were evidently not to be interrupted even by news of extra-universal incursions.

By weekend, the SID had had run-ins with all four of the people who'd made it through. The kid with the baseball cap – Sorata, he said – was the only one who actually consented to talk to Yunlan. According to him, their visitors were from two opposing gangs involved in a major turf war, all of them were like particularly overpowered Dixingians with severe personal issues, and one of them intended to save the world by murdering all humans (his intentions towards Yashou and Dixingians were unclear).

Not something that would be happening on Yunlan's watch, thank you very much. He wasn't too fond of the extremely destructive manner those other three characters went about their business, either. What were they trying to do, exactly – save humanity (and everyone else, hopefully) by destroying the world?

So they all busted their asses to get to the ridiculously named Cherry Blossom Grave Guardian first, so his buddies wouldn't level the city trying to catch him. And now, a week after the portal had opened, the SID had a one-eyed guy in an expensive tailored suit lounging on the cot in lock-up, wearing the most smugly condescending smirk known to man. The detention area was filled with the incongruous scent of cherry blossoms, and Black-Cloaked Shen Wei would not move from his stony vigil in front of the cell. It was all exceedingly odd in exactly the way Yunlan had come to expect.

"Four days," Lin Jing said. "And that's if I miraculously learn to exist without sleep, food or bathroom breaks."

Yunlan looked at him. Lin Jing fidgeted. Yunlan stepped closer and looked at him some more.

"Uh, uhm, I guess maybe I could – uhm, three days?"

Once they'd decided that Lin Jing would need about one and a half more days to assemble his trans-universal portal generator, Yunlan left him to it and went to check on things in the detention area. He hadn't liked the way Cherry Guy and the Black-Cloaked Envoy had been staring at each other.

Sure enough, they were still at it, all steely gazes, careless smirk and immovable stance, respectively. Neither of them seemed to have moved a single muscle, and the animosity was thick enough to cut.

Their guest shifted when Yunlan came into the anteroom, sweeping his gaze over to the door as casually as though the Envoy he'd just been staring at wasn't even there. The smug smirk acquired an edge of something darker and more malicious before smoothing over into easy, affable charm. Patently false, but actually a good imitation – under different circumstances, most people would buy it.

"Chief Zhao, wasn't it?" Cherry Guy was very tall, and when he stood up and stepped forward to the bars, he moved like someone used to physical violence. "Yunlan."

Yunlan had never heard Shen Wei make that sound before. It made Yunlan jump – made even the man in the cell freeze for a split second.

"Do not speak his name." The Black-Cloaked Envoy's harsh, rasping whisper was wound about with odd, echoing harmonics; the sound seemed to linger in the corners of the room and suck all warmth from the air.

A spark of triumph brought brief life to Cherry Guy's eyes. Yunlan carefully did not show any expression at all as he rolled his lollipop around to the other cheek. Shen Wei was usually very level-headed… something about this guy was really getting to him.

Cherry Guy's new grin was slow and loaded with suggestiveness, and he made sure to let his gaze linger on Yunlan for Shen Wei's benefit. "You claim this one as yours? Interesting. He isn't my usual type, but I suppose he might have hidden charms."

The temperature in the room dropped alarmingly. Yunlan's breath actually puffed out as a small cloud of frost when he ambled another step into the anteroom. He made sure to casually – and briefly – cross Shen Wei's line of sight to Cherry Guy, just as a hint. Regardless of how aggravating this guy was, they didn’t need to play his game.

 _You claim this one as yours_ – now that was an interesting turn of phrase. Of course Cherry Guy was trying to yank the Envoy's chain, but even so.

There was another interlude of aggressive staring while Yunlan considered the situation. Cherry Guy could have done a lot more damage to Dragon City, given the fight he'd put up when Yunlan, Shen Wei and Old Chu had finally caught up to him. For someone whose goal was supposedly to wipe out humanity, he hadn't seemed all that interested. He'd contented himself with small, almost taunting attacks, and had only stuck around for a real fight the once, when the opponent who answered his call was the young man in the beads and the robes, all by himself.

The way Cherry Guy had crouched over the fallen young man – all predatory intensity, like a cat waiting for his half-dead mouse to wake up and entertain him again... And when Old Chu had struck out at him, he'd blocked the attack in a way that shielded his victim, and had drawn the fight away from his motionless form.

If you went around claiming people as property, that might well be what it would look like.

Prisons were full of people like Cherry Guy, albeit most often without the apocalyptic powers, and so were boardrooms, ministries and Dixingian palaces. They were ruthless, and dangerous, and completely free of moral constraints – but they were also predictable. It was just a question of finding the right approach… and Shen Wei wasn't the only one who had shown his hand.

"In case you were wondering," drawled Yunlan. "That guy in the robes, with the beads? The one you beat up? We got him to hospital, and it turned out he wasn't that seriously hurt. He'll be back to throwing around doves in no time. Guess he got lucky, considering how hard you were trying to kill him. Plus he does seem to have a lot of that light energy."

Cherry Guy said nothing, but did turn his attention to Yunlan. This time, the showy leer was accompanied by a less obvious assessing look.

If this didn't work, Yunlan might be able to use the Mount-River Awl to strip the man's essence from his body and confine it in a cherry-blossom-scented pillar of stone, chains optional. It wasn't his preference, but he couldn't just let him sit here until he figured out a way to escape. Not now that he'd spent hours trying – and failing – to stare down the Envoy. Yunlan knew people like this. He would want to triumph over Shen Wei, and he'd probably do it by going after Yunlan and taunting Shen Wei into doing something foolish and self-sacrificing.

Shen Wei, of course, would do it.

No way, no how, flower boy. Nobody messed with Yunlan's Envoy.

"We're working on a way to send you back. Until then, I'd like you to remain our guest. It should only be a few days." Yunlan smiled, showing teeth. "I suspect the Envoy will be keeping you company. Of course, if you decide to wander off and leave him with time on his hands, all that tasty energy spilling from your dove-slinging young man might prove too much to resist. You do know the Envoy needs to, uhm, _snack_ from time to time, right?"

The scent of cherry blossoms intensified, and for a moment, Yunlan's vision wavered, the air shimmering as though from extreme heat.

Shen Wei growled, and the shimmer dissipated. Nothing happened.

Yunlan grinned. "Good talk. I'll leave you to it, then."

 

~~~~

 

They sent Sorata and the schoolgirl through first, so they'd be ready to receive the trussed-up Cherry Guy on the other side. Yunlan was under no illusions, though. As soon as he left Shen Wei's sight, the man would be gone with the wind, metaphorically or otherwise.

He made sure the kid with the robes stayed until last. The young man, technically – he wasn't much younger than Yunlan, but there was something about him that made him seem young and fragile. Broken.

"That guy's bad news," he said, when they had sent everyone else through and were waiting for the portal generator to gather itself for one last effort.

"Yes," agreed the Thirteenth Clan Head of Whatever, with leaden resignation that he seemed to be trying to pass off as serenity.

After a moment in which the generator whined alarmingly and Lin Jing levitated nearly a full meter into the air, the young man flicked a glance in the direction of the Black-Cloaked Envoy. Shen Wei was standing back, out of the general bustle, still keeping watch over the proceedings and radiating stony immovability and instant readiness. "What about him?"

Given that this was the first utterance of any kind the kid had offered unprompted, it was definitely more significant than it might appear.

Yunlan quirked a smile and pulled a lollipop from his pocket, offering it to Thirteenth Kid. "Is the Black-Cloaked Envoy bad news, you mean? Nope. Not even a little." Unless you were some kind of evildoer, of course, but that wasn't what the guy was talking about.

Thirteen looked at the lollipop in disinterested puzzlement. Yunlan held it a bit closer to him, until he finally took it out of politeness, or perhaps boredom. "You don't consider it worthy of the term 'bad news' that he consumes people."

Well now… wasn't that interesting. The only one who'd gotten that particular piece of misinformation was a certain one-eyed Cherry Guy – and he should not have had the chance to speak to Thirteenth Kid since then, seeing as he'd been locked up, with the unblinking gaze of Shen Wei at his most indomitable fixed upon him.

Yunlan unwrapped a lollipop of his own as he considered the matter. The technical question of how these overpowered world-destroying gangsters had managed to pull it off was not what interested him most about this; it was what it revealed about them. Sure, Blossom Guy would want to warn his favorite toy away from someone who might break it, no surprise there. But what did it imply that a man who'd been singled out for special abuse by a stalkerish enemy with apocalyptic powers was this casual about receiving secret messages from said enemy – that he even believed him in the first place?

When they'd both been waiting for the portal to open, Cherry Guy had watched his toy with the icy, unswerving attention of a predator fixating on the only prey worthy of his time – and the man cast in the role of the juiciest mouse had watched back with what looked for all the world like hopeless longing, dulled by soul-crushing despair.

Many victims of domestic violence would defend their abuser to their last breath, because they'd fallen down such a deep and dark well that it was the only thing they had left.

Yunlan looked over to Shen Wei, heart heavy in his chest. Shen Wei was already looking at him, jaw set in grim understanding.

Thirteen was still waiting for an answer, and there actually seemed to be a spark of interest there, too – a rarity, with this guy. Yunlan raised his eyebrows at him. "Depends on who he chooses to consume, wouldn't you say?"

That got him a narrow look, as though Thirteen suspected him of some kind of double entendre. Which was ridiculous, because Yunlan would totally have phrased that differently. Kind of a missed opportunity, really.

And speaking of opportunity. Maybe…

"So, kid, you are clearly a very competent dove-slinging humanity-saving person." The fights they'd seen him in hadn't gone that great for him, but Yunlan was willing to bet large sums of money – and even his motorcycle – that this was down to a combination of his choice of opponent and his severe need of therapy. "Stay here and work for me. We've been looking for someone with the right mindset and a bit of firepower. And if anyone comes after you, we'll stop him." Permanently, if need be.

Thirteenth Kid turned his head to look at him. His eyes were large and clear and empty in that traumatized thousand-yard-stare kind of way, and Yunlan was pretty sure the kid was actually giving him his full attention for the first time. "I will fight my own monsters in my own way, Chief Zhao. I leave you to yours."

"As long as you actually _fight_ them." Yunlan wanted to kick himself as soon as the words had leapt from him. Damn it. This wasn't someone he could save, he knew that, but...

Shen Wei was suddenly there, a steady presence warm at his side. Yunlan leaned into him a little bit. He couldn't help it.

The kid took note of Yunlan's not-entirely-surreptitious leaning, and raised his gaze to give Shen Wei something that actually looked – hang on. Was that a tiny little glare? The miniature version of the kind of look you might, say, give an energy-sucking fiend lurking around someone way too trusting?

The portal chose that moment to start up for the last time, an unspectacular rectangle swinging open into another universe like a door with a frame of sparking white light. On the other side, Yunlan glimpsed a slice of sky and cityscape holding the schoolgirl, her usual foreboding frown, two even younger kids, and a glowing puppy. Predictably, Cherry Guy was nowhere in evidence, unless you counted everyone's evident bad mood. At least it looked like he hadn't bothered to kill anyone.

Yunlan really wanted to say something more – do something more. But there was nothing left to say or do, and Thirteen wasn't paying attention anymore. He stepped through the portal wordlessly, almost absently, as though he were sleepwalking. He didn't look back.

The door blinked out of being without fanfare, accompanied by a hair-raising scraping noise and the stench of burning rubber. Lin Jing started cursing and flapping his hands while running around his generator like a headless chicken.

When Yunlan turned away, Shen Wei was watching him. He stood very close, and the faint scent of incense and cedar wood wafting from his robes felt like a breath of fresh air after being trapped in an abattoir. Yunlan wanted to sway into him, bury his face in his neck, close his eyes and just soak up his presence for a moment or two. If not for his entire team watching, he might have done just that.

"Doesn't feel like a victory, does it?" Damn it, he sounded so tired. He tried not to sound tired in front of his team – it was bad for morale. Maybe it was a good thing nobody but Shen Wei seemed to be paying attention; everyone was too busy with Lin Jing and his generator, the latter of which had now taken to emitting a billowing pillar of black smoke while the former appeared to be having a very dramatic (and rather overacted) breakdown.

"We won all the battles we could," Shen Wei said, quietly. "We cannot win other people's war."

"Yeah," Yunlan sighed. He'd wanted to, though.

"My reputation in that realm will no doubt be… interesting." The corners of Shen Wei's mouth quirked up slightly – an invitation to turn to a lighter topic.

Yunlan found a grin and shrugged carelessly, slanting him a look. "Hope you don't mind. It felt like the thing to say."

"It was a good tactic." Shen Wei followed when Yunlan dodged past Little Guo wielding a fire extinguisher, making his way out into the main office. "You did what you had to do."

"Guess we all did." Yunlan thought of Shen Wei's vigil in front of the cell – his stony, unblinking gaze and the symphonic snarl in his voice.

Shen Wei smiled at him, and Yunlan could see the exact way the corners of his eyes crinkled, even though the mask covered them. All of a sudden, all he wanted was to push down his hood, take off the mask and see the smile light up his entire face.

Bad news, his Envoy? That poor kid really had no idea.

Before his mood had the chance to turn maudlin again, he clapped a hand to Shen Wei's shoulder and gave him his best grin. "Let's go have dinner. I'd treat you, but I think you owe me for decorously making your habit of, ahem, consuming people sound so proper. Wouldn't you say?"

Shen Wei stared at him, startled, and then huffed out a laugh. "Decorum must be one of your hidden charms."

"Very well-hidden," Yunlan agreed. "Want to help me look for some of the others?"

There was still time to turn this into a good day – and judging by the half-amused, half-speculative cast of Shen Wei's glance, things were about to look up.


End file.
